So the net cost for the tip was about $22k. I paid for the vast majority of
this with one month's consultancy beforehand. That's crazy when you think
about it, one month's consultancy in return for a year traveling.
And I certainly didn't hold back with the budget, I met a lot of people
doing it for much cheaper. Where there's a will, there's a way.
One consulting gig, $22,000. I really need to get on this level! Was a fantastic read, especially since I have a lot of respect for Alex due to some of his great work.
That Mark Twain quote really hit home. I recently decided that I need to do the same thing actually. I'm sick of the USA, of the people here, their attitudes, etc.. (I am in LA). Ready to get out and experience the rest of the world. I leave for Sweden on Feb 24th! My first time out of the country!
You are literally the opposite of me - I've travelled all over the place, and if my job wasn't keeping me tied in the UK right now I'd move to LA tomorrow.
Have fun in Sweden, be prepared for a high prices though!
When I was in Deadhorse Alaska (near Prudhoe Bay) ran into a couple of argentinians who had driven up. About as far north as one can drive... and they went south to patagonia to start their trip, too.
Always wanted to do that.
Great thing about traveling in alaska-- you can just pull over to the side of the road and sleep. Spent weeks doing that, and the only "incident" was when an Alaskan Pipeline worker woke me up (it was noon! I my clock was thrown off by the 24 hour sunlight) to make sure I was ok. (I was relatively near the pipeline at that point, and they patrol it.)
Thanks for sharing your experience, I'm enjoying reading it!
Sigh, I frequently regret my wasted youth. Now that I'm a husband and father of two wonderful kids, I wonder if I can transpose and apply what this guy did to my family situation? Maybe take a nice 3 month working vacation (work-cation?) during the summer.
If any of you younger whippersnappers are reading this blog post, GO OUT AND DO THIS!!! You'll most likely regret not doing it when you're older.
I don't have kids, but have travelled quite a bit. I have come across some fairly adventurous parents travelling with kids and staying in hostels. It is not the norm, but it is possible. If you really want to do it, I would start with something like 4 weeks in Costa Rica, and stay in places that are ~$20/night. That is long enough that you will have to do laundry, buy groceries, and learn to live as a family of backpackers. If the family can handle that, then you could go to more adventurous places.
My mother and stepfather traveled around the world over a year in their fifties. They bought a ticket that let them take any flight west for about $2k, sold their house, put all their stuff into storage, took care of insurance and little details, and left.
I have two sisters, a step-sister, and a step-brother.
We moved to St Anton am Arlberg (Awesome ski resort in the Alps) with a 15 month old & mortgage. Ski by day, work remote by night, best six months in a long time. So good, we are doing another ski season in Japan for 2012/13 (and we have a 2nd kid now).
One of the great things about IT is that you can be geographically free. Leave the hustle & bustle, get in touch with nature/family/yourself/beer and you will never regret it.
I've traveled a fair amount and I don't get the degree of fascination. It's essentially a form of entertainment.
I've learned more about almost any place from books and media than just passing through, seeing the sites, and meeting some people. "Traveling" is really not as enlightening as people try to pretend. Living somewhere a couple years is another matter.
I was a bit off-put at first by the fact that the gorgeous photos in this post were not taken by Alex. I then realized that it was the photographer that inspired Alex to take his trip in the first place.
There's also something to be said for staying "behind your eyes" instead of "behind the glass." It's easier to be "in the moment" when you don't have to worry about documenting everything for posterity.
The main thing to think about is this: do you want a one-time, round-the-world experience, or do you want this as a lifestyle, say working 6-8 months a year and traveling the rest?
If you are like me and want the latter, then become a contractor and specialise in something that pays well (for me, J2EE - not a great technology, but Big Corp Inc. pays well for these skills).
The OP seems to suggest a work/travel approach, but to be honest I found that can be tough to sustain. To be maximally productive, it's really helpful to have comfortable and familiar surroundings, very solid internet, etc. I tend to do just-for-fun coding on trips instead, since I found trying to get setup in new places to be stressful.
The only problem I've found is that contracting gigs don't pay well and usually want you onsite. I've got 12+ years as a JEE dev and make a decent salary at a big corp but all of the contracting companies out there only want to pay you $50-$55/hr which isn't even close enough to being enough.
Are there any books or something about how this contracting thing works? I'm just about to start my career in programming, and I don't really have a hang of the business side of things -- not hoping for a quick change to contracting, but I'd like to start to understand how it works.
E.g., what kind/level of J2EE expertise do you need to become a solo contractor for Big Corp Inc.?
As a contractor, do you work on a project in a company office for X months and then leave? Or do you work from home? Etc.
I did the work/travel thing for 14 months and found it ok. I wouldn't want to commit to more than 15-20 hours work per week whilst travelling though.
My plan for the next trip is to travel in between contracts and then settle down for a few months at a time whilst working. Hopefully that will allow more focus.
Edit: Actually I like gexla' idea above - pick a comfortable home base to work in and travel to nearby areas/countries in between contracts.
I disagree with the age comment. If you don't want the baggage of life, then don't let the baggage build up. You can do this at any age.
I made this comment in another post also, but I will repeat it here. If you need to continue working, it's difficult to do contract work while on the move. I suggest setting up a home base in a region that you can concentrate on. For example, setup a home base in SE Asia, knock out some projects and then travel to the nearby areas while between projects. When you are happy that you have seen everything that you want to see in that region, then setup a home base in another region and repeat. With this strategy you could extend your "around the world trip" to as long as you like.
I think it's also worthwhile pointing out that a lot of the cost of these kinds of long trips don't grow a whole lot in comparison to relatively shorter trips. Flights are, in my experience, the largest single expense, and so will cost the same whether you stay for a few weeks at each stop or a few months.
It also depends on how much you pay for two residences. if you keep your rent/mortgage @ home that's another major monthly expense. If you find a sublet/AirBnB or something this still applies.
One of the best times to travel is between leases, if you can stand to 'move' twice. Once to storage, go travel, once from storage to a new place.
Much of the cost of airfare can be diffused with airline miles. If you've got good credit you can pretty easily rack up a few hundred thousand miles without leaving the ground. Sites like FlyerTalk.com are a great resource for this sort of thing. I haven't paid for the airfare of any of my recent trips to Japan and Europe---it's all been done with miles, in premium cabins.
Costs twice as much, and they tire much faster. Some of the seedier risks I've taken when traveling alone I wouldn't take when traveling with a girlfriend, let alone kids. The risk-free premium is quite high, and jacks up the prices quite a bit.
I'd say traveling with family doesn't have to be boring or as expensive as people presume. But it is qualitatively different from traveling in your twenties.
Full price flights once they're 2yo. Before that, they won't remember much. Travel overseas before they're born then domestically until they're about 8.
If you really want to stay travelling for a long time and you want to stay for extended periods in places which don't have amazing internet you should consider getting some other skills. Going from national capital to major population centre is all well and good but you will only see amount of the planet that way. Consider welding, electrical or diesel engine repair as skills you can get employed with pretty much anywhere. Sure, you may not make a consultants salary but those sorts of skills generally pay more than enough to live on comfortably practically everywhere in the world.
Food for thought if you want to spend a lifetime on the road instead of just a year.
Or you could just try to work on gigs that pay well for 3-4 month a year in a place that has awesome internets and dont work while being in places that dont have decent connections. Better than getting into real employment situations anyway.
Most interesting part of the article: "So the net cost for the tip was about $22k. I paid for the vast majority of this with one month's consultancy beforehand."
If this is your first backpacking adventure, I highly recommend not starting in mainland China. It is an order of magnitude more difficult a place to travel than other places.
The article makes it pretty clear that he's plenty experienced.
I agree with the thought though. Rural China is one of the most difficult places to get around I've been to. Outside the cities, most people are just not used to encountering others that can't speak or read, so you have to supply the skills to fumble around and communicate. And Mandarin is a fiendishly difficult language for the native English speaker, so it's tough to pick a few phrases to get around.
I found it very easy and I speak zero Chinese. Plus, it's very cheap, which makes a lot of things (e.g. finding a reasonable hotel for the night) pretty easy. Also safe.
I'm absolutely doing this. After reading your first article, I got super excited about the idea and started planning for it right away. I just graduated college and started working (design & ruby dev), so I don't have enough yet, but I'm putting money into a savings account every month so that I can have enough by the time I'm ready.
Anything you write about this is really fantastic and helpful, so thank you : ) I'll certainly let you know how it's going once I get out there. You have inspired at least one young programmer, so thanks for that!
Good luck. Berlin is one of the greatest cities. If you get homesick, the Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz, shows american movies in english. Be sure to check the times of the Fernsehturm in Alexander platz- we were there 3 months and because we didn't make a specific plan to do so, never got a chance to go up the tower.
Also, if you go to Checkpoint Charlie, the Museum there is pretty good, and big, but during peak hours it is extremely crowded and this detracts from the experience. Worth trying to go in off hours for that one.
Also the DDR Museum is really great, as is the Berlin City Museum. Especially if you've an interest in the soviet era.
Great post. Anything to get programmers traveling a lot more. We need to get out there and see the real world, a world other than silicon valley, understand problems and spot potential opportunities. Only by making peoples lives easier by solving problems can we build more meaningful businesses else we will keep getting more of "me too" features built to share what you are thinking while on the pot.
It always amazes me that there are people who make their money freelancing or working remotely who don't travel regularly. I'm currently working at a big corporation, but I'm currently spending my free time working on learning web related stuff so I can hopefully pick up freelance work to try to support myself while traveling in the future.
Visas are a big issue for many people in the world. I'm an Indian and frankly my biggest headache about traveling internationally is getting a visa. I can't imagine how big a hassle would it be to arrange 20+ visas (for a decent round the world trip). Each application would require financial proofs, ticket proofs, hotel proofs and what not.
I'd also suggest a book to read on the plane: http://www.alaindebotton.com/the_art_of_travel.asp. A good read to explore some of the common, but not often openly discussed, feelings and responses people have to travelling.
Also, CouchSurfing is a great way to find free places to stay and meet intersting folks. I've been on the site ~5 years, and the experiences have been nothing short of amazing..dare I say, a lifechanger
It's possible to travel for a lot less. If you are on a tight budget. I traveled for 6 month in India, Nepal and Thailand 2 years ago for less than 6k.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the ergonomics of travelling and programming? I've come to rely on a very specific setup to avoid the symptoms of RSI. I find that coffee shops and the like tend to encourage the worst kind of posture for this.
I suppose one compromise could be to deck out your own vehicle with an ideal setup and travel in that; but then you're more limited in where you can go.
Rather than doing one around the world trip, setup one "home base" and focus on seeing that region. For example, I live in the Philippines and I can get tickets to anywhere in SE Asia are very cheap. I can work hard for a period to bust out some projects and then take time off to travel to another area in the region for a week or longer. Then go back to "home base" and repeat the process.
The author seemed to be working on his own projects during his trip. Doing contract work on the road is far more difficult, so the "home base" strategy also works better if you have to continue contract work while abroad.
I have the same interests and concerns. The older I get, the more injuries and problems I develop. Currently, I need my Kinesis Classic keyboard, my Logitech mouse, my eye-level monitor, and my excellent Steelcase chair.
I believe that I could get by with a less ergonomic system if I limited myself to part-time work (say, four to six hours per day) and had ample time to walk around. I've found nothing better for back/neck problems than a good 15 - 30 minute walk, focusing on posture. Also, I would find something like a more powerful iPad, on a stand, with a nice Bluetooth keyboard to be much, much more valuable than a laptop, and it should still be very space efficient.
[+] [-] whalesalad|14 years ago|reply
That Mark Twain quote really hit home. I recently decided that I need to do the same thing actually. I'm sick of the USA, of the people here, their attitudes, etc.. (I am in LA). Ready to get out and experience the rest of the world. I leave for Sweden on Feb 24th! My first time out of the country!
[+] [-] henrikschroder|14 years ago|reply
You could have picked a good time to visit, but you just had to pick the coldest month? Why? :-)
[+] [-] corin_|14 years ago|reply
Have fun in Sweden, be prepared for a high prices though!
[+] [-] itmag|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grecy|14 years ago|reply
I spent 2 years driving from Alaska to Argentina, working on freelance websites and programming on the side.
Total trip cost (yes, including gas) was $27k.
Full story at http://theroadchoseme.com
Anyone interested in a similar experience should checkout http://wikioverland.org , the encyclopedia of Overland Travel
[+] [-] nirvana|14 years ago|reply
Always wanted to do that.
Great thing about traveling in alaska-- you can just pull over to the side of the road and sleep. Spent weeks doing that, and the only "incident" was when an Alaskan Pipeline worker woke me up (it was noon! I my clock was thrown off by the 24 hour sunlight) to make sure I was ok. (I was relatively near the pipeline at that point, and they patrol it.)
Thanks for sharing your experience, I'm enjoying reading it!
[+] [-] stuff4ben|14 years ago|reply
If any of you younger whippersnappers are reading this blog post, GO OUT AND DO THIS!!! You'll most likely regret not doing it when you're older.
[+] [-] jcampbell1|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spodek|14 years ago|reply
I have two sisters, a step-sister, and a step-brother.
What are you waiting for?
[+] [-] davekinkead|14 years ago|reply
We moved to St Anton am Arlberg (Awesome ski resort in the Alps) with a 15 month old & mortgage. Ski by day, work remote by night, best six months in a long time. So good, we are doing another ski season in Japan for 2012/13 (and we have a 2nd kid now).
One of the great things about IT is that you can be geographically free. Leave the hustle & bustle, get in touch with nature/family/yourself/beer and you will never regret it.
[+] [-] Mz|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rubashov|14 years ago|reply
I've learned more about almost any place from books and media than just passing through, seeing the sites, and meeting some people. "Traveling" is really not as enlightening as people try to pretend. Living somewhere a couple years is another matter.
[+] [-] mceachen|14 years ago|reply
I was a bit off-put at first by the fact that the gorgeous photos in this post were not taken by Alex. I then realized that it was the photographer that inspired Alex to take his trip in the first place.
There's also something to be said for staying "behind your eyes" instead of "behind the glass." It's easier to be "in the moment" when you don't have to worry about documenting everything for posterity.
[+] [-] cgh|14 years ago|reply
If you are like me and want the latter, then become a contractor and specialise in something that pays well (for me, J2EE - not a great technology, but Big Corp Inc. pays well for these skills).
The OP seems to suggest a work/travel approach, but to be honest I found that can be tough to sustain. To be maximally productive, it's really helpful to have comfortable and familiar surroundings, very solid internet, etc. I tend to do just-for-fun coding on trips instead, since I found trying to get setup in new places to be stressful.
[+] [-] stuff4ben|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mbrock|14 years ago|reply
E.g., what kind/level of J2EE expertise do you need to become a solo contractor for Big Corp Inc.?
As a contractor, do you work on a project in a company office for X months and then leave? Or do you work from home? Etc.
Thanks.
[+] [-] jamii|14 years ago|reply
My plan for the next trip is to travel in between contracts and then settle down for a few months at a time whilst working. Hopefully that will allow more focus.
Edit: Actually I like gexla' idea above - pick a comfortable home base to work in and travel to nearby areas/countries in between contracts.
[+] [-] hello_moto|14 years ago|reply
JEE, Spring, Maven, Checkstyle, Findbugs. Lock and Loaded.
[+] [-] gexla|14 years ago|reply
I made this comment in another post also, but I will repeat it here. If you need to continue working, it's difficult to do contract work while on the move. I suggest setting up a home base in a region that you can concentrate on. For example, setup a home base in SE Asia, knock out some projects and then travel to the nearby areas while between projects. When you are happy that you have seen everything that you want to see in that region, then setup a home base in another region and repeat. With this strategy you could extend your "around the world trip" to as long as you like.
[+] [-] rflrob|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] izak30|14 years ago|reply
One of the best times to travel is between leases, if you can stand to 'move' twice. Once to storage, go travel, once from storage to a new place.
[+] [-] saryant|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jamesgpearce|14 years ago|reply
Doing these kinds of trips and long-term sabbaticals with kids is the best education you can give them.
(Stay wired a little, and apparently they barely dent career prospects too.)
[+] [-] arjunnarayan|14 years ago|reply
I'd say traveling with family doesn't have to be boring or as expensive as people presume. But it is qualitatively different from traveling in your twenties.
[+] [-] prawn|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Tsagadai|14 years ago|reply
Food for thought if you want to spend a lifetime on the road instead of just a year.
[+] [-] kayoone|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kyt|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kpennell|14 years ago|reply
Anyone care to explain how that is possible?
[+] [-] tomx|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jcampbell1|14 years ago|reply
If this is your first backpacking adventure, I highly recommend not starting in mainland China. It is an order of magnitude more difficult a place to travel than other places.
[+] [-] phil|14 years ago|reply
I agree with the thought though. Rural China is one of the most difficult places to get around I've been to. Outside the cities, most people are just not used to encountering others that can't speak or read, so you have to supply the skills to fumble around and communicate. And Mandarin is a fiendishly difficult language for the native English speaker, so it's tough to pick a few phrases to get around.
[+] [-] crdoconnor|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jenius|14 years ago|reply
Anything you write about this is really fantastic and helpful, so thank you : ) I'll certainly let you know how it's going once I get out there. You have inspired at least one young programmer, so thanks for that!
[+] [-] kellysutton|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brynjar|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nirvana|14 years ago|reply
Also, if you go to Checkpoint Charlie, the Museum there is pretty good, and big, but during peak hours it is extremely crowded and this detracts from the experience. Worth trying to go in off hours for that one.
Also the DDR Museum is really great, as is the Berlin City Museum. Especially if you've an interest in the soviet era.
[+] [-] nikhilalmeida|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cgag|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paraschopra|14 years ago|reply
Wish there were a simpler way!
[+] [-] CeiII|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] moped|14 years ago|reply
www.couchsurfing.org
[+] [-] AlexCP|14 years ago|reply
I think the real cost of travel is time.
[+] [-] drpancake|14 years ago|reply
I suppose one compromise could be to deck out your own vehicle with an ideal setup and travel in that; but then you're more limited in where you can go.
[+] [-] gexla|14 years ago|reply
The author seemed to be working on his own projects during his trip. Doing contract work on the road is far more difficult, so the "home base" strategy also works better if you have to continue contract work while abroad.
[+] [-] georgieporgie|14 years ago|reply
I believe that I could get by with a less ergonomic system if I limited myself to part-time work (say, four to six hours per day) and had ample time to walk around. I've found nothing better for back/neck problems than a good 15 - 30 minute walk, focusing on posture. Also, I would find something like a more powerful iPad, on a stand, with a nice Bluetooth keyboard to be much, much more valuable than a laptop, and it should still be very space efficient.